7/28/2019 West Fork Daily Update Thursday July 4
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West Fork Complex Fire Update
Rocky Mountain Incident Management Team- Pete Blume, Incident
Commander
Central Coast Interagency Incident Management Team 7Mark Nunez,
Incident Commander
East Zone Phone: 719-569-4149
West Zone Phone: 970-731-2432
Hours of operation: 8:00 am9:00 pm
East Zone Email:[email protected] Zone
Email:[email protected]
July 4, 2013
9:00 am
Special Messages: Fire Restrictions for the Rio Grande National
Forest have increased to Stage II. To find out
more information, go
tohttp://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/riogrande/or call 719-852-6271.
Stay safe during the 4 th of July holiday. Please adhere to fire
restrictions in your area, especially those
associated with fireworks.
The Joint Information Center closed as of last evening due to
call volume slowing down. For fire information,please contact the
appropriate Zone office. For Papoose and West ForkEast Zone, please
call or email the
East Zone; for Windy Pass and West ForkWest Zone, please call or
email the West Zone. Contact
information listed above.
Current Situation:
East Zone of the West Fork Complex (Includes Papoose and Eastern
Part of West Fork Fires)The strategies for operations on the fire
include continuing protection for structures and high value
resources, as
well as confining the fire to areas where it will not pose a
threat to local communities during the remainder of
the summer.
Papoose Fire: Yesterday, fire activity increased in the
southeast corner of Papoose, spreading in areas of
beetle-killed spruce and old logging slash. Smoke and ash were
observed in Pagosa Springs. Sustained winds at20 miles per hour,
from the north and northwest, pushed the fire into Copper Creek,
west of Red Mountain
Ranch. The fire was burning deep into the interior and was not a
threat to structures. Similar weather and
extreme fire behavior is expected again today. As long as the
fire continues to burn in these stands of dead
spruce, smoke will be more typical. Falling trees in some areas
of the fire continue to create an unsafe situation
and firefighters are avoiding those areas. Burn out operations
along some of the meadows near Highway 149 is
planned again today which will allow firefighters the
opportunity to even out the fire line and achieveconfinement.
Eastern Part of West Fork Fire: Firefighters will continue
chipping operations around homes where limbs and
brush were cleared so fire hazard is reduced. Firefighters will
continue fireline construction through the Elk
Mountain area and monitor areas along Highway 160 where fire
remains active.
West Zone of West Fork Complex (Includes Western Part of West
Fork and Windy Pass Fires)
Incident Commander Mark Nunez Type 2 Central Coast IMT 7 assumed
command of the West Fork Fire WestZone this morning at 6:00
a.m.
Fourth of July festivities in Pagosa Springs are bringing in up
to 10,000 ~ 12,000 visitors over the weekend.
Please be cautious of the fire equipment traffic and come visit
us at the Town Park booth.
West Zone West Fork Fire: The West Zone of the West Fork fire is
the portion of the fire burning south of the
continental divide. Structure protection is still in place for
the Wolf Creek Ski Area, Borns Lake Cabins, and
Bruce Spruce Resort. The West Fork Campground is open. Crews
completed backhauling excess firefightingequipment at Borns Lake,
Bruce Spruce and Wolf Creek.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/riogrande/http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/riogrande/http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/riogrande/http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/riogrande/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]
7/28/2019 West Fork Daily Update Thursday July 4
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Windy Pass Fire: Firefighters continue to patrol and monitor the
fire area. Forest Service Resource Advisor is
continuing to monitor Firefighting efforts in coordination for
watershed conservation.
Weather:Isolated thunderstorms are forecasted with winds from
the northwest. Increased moisture willslightly improve chances for
wetting rains. True monsoonal moisture still appears most likely to
arrive at the
end of next week, which is near average timing for southern
Colorado.
Public Health and Safety: Smoke monitors are in place in Pagosa
Springs, Freemons Ranch, Creede, and
South Fork. The monitors are identified as #78 (Creede), #69
(Freemons Ranch), #25 (South Fork), and #65
(Pagosa Springs). All monitors can be accessed through the map
located at:http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/smoke.pl. Times
displayed are in GMTsubtract 6 hours to get local time (MDT). For
the official
Colorado Smoke Outlook, please
visithttp://www.colorado.gov/airquality/colo_advisory.aspxand
http://www.colorado.gov/airquality/wildfire.aspxfor further
health advisory information.
Please use caution when traveling along Highways 149 and 160.
Heavy fire traffic can be expected along the
highways and within the communities of South Fork, Creede, and
Del Norte. In addition, heavy holiday traffic
is expected in the same area, and including Pagosa Springs.
Please do not stop along the roads to take pictures
of the fire or firefighters as doing so could impede fire
operations.
Evacuations and Closures: Some communities still remain under
evacuation, others on pre-evacuation notice.
Residents are reminded to remain vigilant and be prepared to
evacuate at a moments notice in the event that fire
activity changes.
Visithttp://westforkfirecomplex.blogspot.com/for a list of areas
currently under evacuation orpre-evacuation. The list will be
updated as conditions change.
For additional information on road and trail closures and fire
restrictions affecting the San Juan National Forest
go to:http://www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/sanjuan/alerts-notices.
For additional information on road and trail closures and fire
restrictions affecting the Rio Grande National
Forest go to:http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/riogrande/.
Fire Information Meetings: None scheduled at this time.
Media Briefings: There are no scheduled media briefings.
Fire Statistics:Location: 14.5 miles north/northeast of Pagosa
Springs, CO Start Date: 06/05/2013
Complex Size: 106,637 acres Percent Contained: 16%
Windy Pass: 1,417 acres Cause: Lightning
Papoose: 48,652 acres Total Personnel: 1,234
West Fork: 56,568 acres
Resources Include: 7 Type 1 hand crews, 15 Type 2 hand crews, 62
engines, 3 dozers, 13 water tenders, and
overhead personnel
Air Resources: 4 Type 1 helicopters, 1 Type 2 helicopters, and 3
Type 3 helicopters.
Places to get information:Blog:
http://westforkfirecomplex.blogspot.com/
Website:http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/3436/
Twitter: @rmt1pioFacebook:
https://www.facebook.com/RockyMtn.Type1.IMT.PIOs.
Information Boards: Information is posted at the Pagosa Springs
Visitor Information Center, Freemon's Ranch
near Creede, the Forest Service office in Creede, and at the Del
Norte High School.
Photos:
http://s1286.photobucket.com/user/WestForkComplex/library/
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